THREE days after giving Kim Aurin an earful, TNT coach Chot Reyes praised the Tropang 5G guard for his play in Game 4 of the PBA 49th Season Philippine Cup semifinals against Rain or Shine.
Reyes said the play of Aurin, along with that of Glenn Khobuntin and Poy Erram, were the “real key” in their 108-92 victory over the Elasto Painters that put the Grand Slam-seeking side on the cusp of another finals berth by taking a 3-1 lead in the semifinals.
READ: TNT one win away from another PBA Finals after win over RoS
Aurin had an all-around game of seven points, five rebounds, and three assists - three days after he was seen being furiously admonished by Reyes at the tailend of the second quarter of Game 3 that TNT lost, 107-86.
The former Perpetual standout only had four points and committed two turnovers in that game, as Reyes compared his effort to ‘insubordination’ due to his inability to follow instructions.
READ: Chot explains dressing down, benching of Kim Aurin in Game 3 loss
This time, though, the Tropang 5G shot-caller made sure to commend Aurin.
“But I thought the real key was the emergence of Kim Aurin, Glenn Khobuntin, and Poy Erram in the second half because the three of them were just terrible in the first half and we showed them the numbers. They were huge negatives, the three of them in the first half,” said Reyes.
Chot lights a fire under Kim
Khobuntin, Erram, and Aurin were -17, -15, and -9, respectively, in the first half. The +/- statistic is a metric that measures the difference between the points scored by a player's team and the output by their opponents whenever that particular player is on the floor.
Khobuntin finished with 0 after he had 11 of his 16 points in the third quarter, while Erram went down to -2 after he had eight points, five rebounds, and two blocks in Game 4.
And Aurin? He had a +3 to finish the ballgame.
“I thought that was the turning point,” said Reyes.
“Brandon [Ganuelas-Rosser] played a hell of a game, Calvin [Oftana], Jordan Heading, but it was those three because they’re basically the second unit, and for them to come up big, especially Poy without Kelly [Williams] with that sprained ankle, I thought that was huge for us,” said Reyes.
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